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Building a future brick by brick

One of the 74 teachers at Tshivhase Secondary School in Thohoyandou has bought a new car and, as usual, says principal Fhatuwani Maselesele, the news calls for a celebration.

Every one of the more than 60 cars on the makeshift parking lot in front of the school’s main gate was welcomed the same way.

A round of applause erupts when the new member of the “family”, a grand Ford Ranger double-cab bakkie, is introduced during a small gathering of teachers in the staff room.

A proud Maselesele says the school encourages both teachers and learners to work hard and flourish.

The idea is simple: teachers are among the learners’ immediate role models and when they do well, the children get inspired.

Later on, he says, there will be another celebration to congratulate two staff members who have been promoted and will be taking new jobs at other nearby schools.

One will become a principal and another head of department.

“So, we are going to announce it formally,” he says, adding that a team was busy preparing for a small celebration later on the day.

Tshivhase Secondary School.Photo:Leon Sadiki Citypress PHOTO:
Tshivhase Secondary School old classes.Photo:Leon Sadiki Citypress PHOTO:
brand new Toilets at Tshivhase Secondary School
creative Tshivhase Secondary School’s crest painted by pupils
Tshivhase Secondary School principal Fhatuwani Maselesele.Photo:Leon Sadiki Citypress PHOTO:
Tshivhase Secondary School principal Fhatuwani Maselesele.Photo:Leon Sadiki Citypress PHOTO:
progress New and old buildings at Tshivhase Secondary School
bright futures Tshivhase Secondary School pupils in their new classrooms donated by the IDC

Last year Tshivhase attained a 92.3% matric pass rate and produced the top pupil in Limpopo, Malamba Nemavhadwe, despite dropping to position number six among all the secondary schools in Limpopo, from Musina to Polokwane.

Nemavhadwe, who started in Tshivhase in Grade 8 in 2012, says that from the beginning she has had the pressure to maintain high marks and it helped that teachers were available to assist even during their spare time.

“I had the cellphone numbers of my teachers and everytime I called to ask for help they always answered the call. It helped because they believed in me,” says Nemavhadwe.

The first year acturial science student at Wits University in Johannesburg says her message to the class of 2017 is that “normal school time is enough to cover the basics but if you want to excel and aim for a perfect score you must take the supplementary classes seriously even if it means compromising on your own leisure time”.

The no-fee paying school, in a deep rural part of the province, is among 20 across the country adopted by the state’s developmental finance institution, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), through its Whole School Development Programme.

“As teachers we work as a team and family,” says Maselesele, adding that “our boss is the learner”.

“No one can beat that and we are here because of this learner,” he says.

He says his staff appreciates that it is important to keep the pupil enrolment in the school high – currently standing at 2 375 pupils with an average of 70 pupils in one class.

“Once learner enrolment increases, the department will also increase the number of teachers,” says Maselesele.

“So, I motivate my teachers and tell them that while parents still have that positive attitude towards us, let us work for these kids.”

He says the school also has a policy that teachers should “ideally” have their children attending Tshivhase. Citing himself as an example, he says “three of my children are matriculating here”.

“My last-born is in primary school, but I believe he is also going to come here,” says Maselesele.

“If you send your kids to another school and you teach here, what are you saying? You may be sending the wrong message,” he says.

“So, the policy that we have adopted is that we should try our level best to have our kids attending school here. And my teachers are doing that.”

At around 11am, says Maselesele, more than 30 of the teachers were expected to attend a meeting of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union. But he says a teachers’ meeting does not mean that school is out.

“In other schools when teachers attend the meeting it is the end of the school day. But it is a teachers’ meeting and not a learners’ meeting. So our learners know that they will go home at the normal time,” he says.

“The first group of learners leave at 3.30pm and Grade 12s at 5pm.”

Explaining the school’s drop from position three in the province in 2015 to position six at the end of last year, Maselesele says the issue of progressive pupils contributed.

These are students who were promoted to Grade 12 without passing Grade 11.

Only nine of the 20 promoted students managed to pass.

The school’s mathematics pass rate also dropped from 71% in 2015 to 69.4% by last year. Maselesele says the situation could have been worse had it not been for the IDC’s intervention.

During the second term of last year, the IDC sent mathematics specialists to spend a week at Tshivhase to assist teachers and pupils.

“They even went to the extent of teaching in the class and we believe that, had it not been for the IDC intervention, the maths percentage would have been lower.”

He says it was also hard to find local maths teachers and, as a result, all maths teachers at Tshivhase are from Zimbabwe.

“If things stabilise in Zimbabwe, we are going to lose them,” he says, adding that the school is actively trying to bring in teaching graduates who could learn from their foreign colleagues.

The five-year partnership between the IDC and Tshivhase started in 2013.

Although it is expected to end this year, Maselesele says he is confident it will be extended to 2018, particularly because the developmental institution has also adopted one of its feeder primary schools, Vhufuli.

During the programme, the IDC built two new blocks in Tshivhase consisting of 12 classrooms and an ablution block, adding its name to the rich history of those who have contributed to growing the school to what it is today.

In the 1990s, former president Nelson Mandela also facilitated the building of 20 new classrooms for the school.

Before that, the school, built by the Tshivhase traditional council, had only 19 classrooms to cater for Grade 8 to Grade 12.

Maselesele says the IDC’s construction of the new classrooms contributed significantly to economic growth in the Vhembe area.

The building material was sourced from local suppliers and it provided local jobs. He says the budget for labour on one of the six-classroom blocks stood at more than R450 000.

However, says Maselesele, one of the old blocks in the school is falling apart and is in desperate need of renovations.

For the past five years, as part of its social contribution, the IDC has donated sanitary towels to female pupils every year in February.

“They give each girl enough to last until the next February,” says Maselesele.

The other structure in the schoolyard is a 2 450-seater hall built by parents through a building fund in 2010.

The hall is not yet complete, but it is usable and it is possible for the community to book it for a small amount. Most importantly, though, it gives pupils a place to sit their exams.

He says the parents are important stakeholders in the running of the school.

Last Sunday, he says, the school had an annual general meeting and parents came in numbers, despite the fact that “it was raining cats and dogs”.

The school governing body also plays a key and supportive role because they are elected by parents to represent their views, he says.

“They are the ones who give us a mandate to run different projects. Parents still have confidence in us and that is why they are sending their children here.”

He says the number of pupils increased “dramatically” soon after Tshivhase got a 100% matric pass rate in 2013 and the school built its reputation for good performance on the back of that record.

Back in Maselesele’s office, a cabinet behind his desk is full of trophies.

The situation is the same in the office of the first deputy principal, the second deputy principal and the head of department.

Maselesele says the learners do not only excel in academics, but also in other activities such as cultural dancing and different sporting codes.

“Just look behind me. Those trophies, we did not buy them,” he says.

“These trophies come to this school because of our performance. We have so many that we need a special stand to keep them because we are running out of space.”

He says more are still to come.

“As I am speaking to you right now, we are still expecting more trophies because the district is yet to holds its prize-giving ceremony.”

Tshivhase is guaranteed an award for its matric pass rate, the highest in the country for quintile two schools (categorised according to the poverty rate), as well as for producing the top pupil in Limpopo.

On his future ambitions, Maselesele points out that at least six to seven of Tshivhase’s former principals moved on to become circuit managers.

He is prepared to follow in their footsteps, but “for now, I am enjoying it here and only time will tell”.

This series is reported by City Press and supported by the IDC

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